Biography

Arguably one of the most popular entertainers of his lifetime, Jim Carrey has combined equal parts of his idol Jerry Lewis, his spiritual ancestor Harry Ritz, and the loose-limbed Ray Bolger into a gleefully uninhibited screen image that is uniquely his own. Carrey was born on January 17,…more

Along with a number of other celebrities, Jim has added his voice to call to have Aung San Suu Kyi, a political prisoner, Nobel Prize winner and the democratically elected President of Burma to be released by the military hunta that has been maintaining control over that country.

In January 2009, while Jim and Jenny McCarthy were celebrating Jim's 47th birthday by attending a 50 Cent concert, they were surprised by 50 inviting Jim up onto the stage. The audience then serenaded him with a special rendition of It's Your Birthday.

Researchers in New York and London have discovered a condition they have named "Truman Syndrome", named after Jim Carrey's character in The Truman Show(1998). People diagnosed with this psychological disorder believe their lives are being aired on worldwide TV.

Along with girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, Jim continues to champion the idea that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine can cause autism in children, despite considerable opposition from the medical community.

In August of 2008, Jim was rated tenth on Forbes magazine's "Ten Most Overpaid Actors" list. The list was based on comparing how much revenue the actor's movies make versus the amounts they were paid for their performances.

In a poorly thought out attempt to amuse his castmembers and crew, he infuriated everyone on the set of The Number 23in February 2007, by urinating on the actual movie set in front of everyone. He is known for his over-the-top antics, but castmates think that this time he had gone too far.

Jim hosted a special holiday party to benefit the Los Angeles Fire Department's 'Spark Of Love' toy drive. He escorted his 19 year old daughter Jane, girlfriend Jenny McCarthy, and her 4 year old son Evan. 500 guests arrived, donating over a thousand toys for needy area children, from guests including: Ron Howard, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Billy Corgan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morgan Freeman, and Pauley Shore. Professional skaters Surya Bonaly and Sasha Cohen performed on ice.

He fired his agent of fifteen years, Nick Stevens at United Talent Agency, after a pair of productions that Carrey was to work on, budgeted in excess of $100 million dollar each, (20th Century Fox's Used Guys and Paramount's Ripley's Believe It Or Not) were dropped due to escalating costs.

He has been dating Jenny McCarthy since July of 2005. They have no plans to ever get married. Both had been through painful divorces in the past and neither of them believe that they need a piece of paper to be in love. They plan to fashion their relationship after Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell: happily un-married.

During a time when he was down on his luck, he wrote himself a check for ten million dollars and post-dated it for Thanksgiving Day, 1995. The motivational trick seemed to work. Just three days before his father's death, Jim was offered ten million dollars for appearing in The Mask. His father was absolutely delighted. Jim placed the original check in his father's breast pocket before they closed the coffin.

Jim's mother Kathleen suffered depression and was often chronically sick with both real and imagined illnesses. His father was a saxophone player with a big band, but sold his sax and dreams to take a job as an accountant.

His career started off with modest success. He was starring in a television comedy show (The Duck Factory in 1984) and two movies (Copper Mountain and All In Good Taste, both in 1983). Feeling confident in his prospects, he sent for his parents in Toronto and set them up to live in Los Angeles to be close to him. Unfortunately, things then went badly for Jim. His movies were financial failures and The Duck Factory was cancelled after thirteen shows. As his money began to run out, a depressed Jim started to paint a portrait of his father with a stopwatch in one hand and a gun in the other, calling it 'Waiting Around To Die'. He eventually did the hardest thing he ever had to do, and sent his parents back to Toronto.

When he was asked to appear as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, he was ecstatic. However, he left somewhat depressed after not having been invited to join Johnny on the couch for a career-making chat.

He always enjoyed phenomenal support from his parents. His father, Percy, despite battling manic depression, was a great 'stage dad'. He helped Jim write his first routines. His mother, Kathleen, made him his yellow polyester suit with tails for his stage debut. His first performance was not well received, but he didn't give up. He just continued practicing his impressions, among whom were Michael Landon, Henry Fonda, Gandhi, Elvis, and James Stewart.

Jim's father Percy lost his job when Jim was in the 9th grade, forcing them to sell their house and relocate to Scarborough, where the whole family took on jobs at the Titan Wheels factory as janitors or security guards. Jim would work a 8 hour shift directly after school, scrubbing toilets and floors. At one point, the family all lived in their VW Camper Van.

As a child, Jim loved Christmas time. Not because of the holiday season or the gifts, but because visiting relatives increased his audience. He obsessively studied television shows, perfecting impressions of the stars and his alcoholic grandfather.

While on his way to an audition for a spot on Saturday Night Live in 1986 (alongside Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman), he spotted an employee of NBC atop the roof, threatening to jump. The experience shook him up and obviously threw his comic timing off. He failed the audition.

In 1999, Jim attended a private concert by the band Phish in Careystock Vermont with his production crew from Me, Myself and Irene. It took place at the lead singer's home. Jim joined in with the band to sing 'Hey You' by Pink Floyd and 'Come Together' by The Beatles.

When he became aware of the plans to film the biopic Man On The Moon, Jim auditioned fiercely for the role of Andy Kaufman. He went to the extreme lengths of hiring a production crew to record his audition tape.

Jim landed parts in two Buddy Van Horn films that starred Clint Eastwood; The Dead Pool in 1988 and Pink Cadillac in 1989. It was Clint Eastwood himself who asked to have Jim involved in both films because he loved the impressions Jim did of Clint.

Quotes

Jim Carrey: (discussing a bungee jump he had performed for "Yes Man") I was gonna do it sooner or later. You might as well get it on film, right? I mean, in the days of reality television, c'mon! Everything should be filmed! I am having a cyst removed next week. I've created a show around it: Celebrity Cyst.

Jim Carrey: (talking about Jenny McCarthy's anxieties about raising an autistic son) I call it a nervous breakthrough... I think people have ways of hiding their emotions; people think their emotions are ugly. But when she finally broke down... I don't think she had ever done that in her entire life. Her therapist said there was anger there because she felt guilty for giving her son autism... To feel that guilt is the beginning of a healing process.

Jim Carrey: (revealing he will never marry Jenny McCarthy) We're never getting married, but we're never getting divorced, which is fantastic. She's just a wonderful lady and much deeper than she's ever received credit for, and I'm very excited about her future.

Jim Carrey: I don't think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain't desperate at some point, you ain't interesting.

Jim Carrey: What I have in common with the character in Truman is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

Jim Carrey: I praticed making faces in the mirror and it would drive my mother crazy. She used to scare me by saying that I was going to see the devil if I kept looking in the mirror. That fascinated me even more, of course.

Jim Carrey: That's the trouble with being me. At this point, nobody gives a damn what my problem is. I could literally have a tumor on the side of my head and they'd be like, 'Yeah, big deal. I'd eat a tumor every morning for the kinda money you're pulling down.

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